82nd Selvian Skyborne
by Sero'ElCapitan
Summary: A squad of Selvian Stormtroopers find themselves lost behind enemy lines on a world under the control of the Tau Empire..
1. Chapter 1

The night was cold but the darkness was not from lack of light, according to the chronos, it was midday. Mikael felt a shiver go down his spine and shuddered. The cold was only adding to the already gloomy darkness. The veteran sergeant had lost count of time a couple hours earlier. Him and his squad, Beta, had lost contact with the ships in orbit two nights ago and the last thing he'd heard over the vox caster was the order to fall back and out of orbital defenses' range from his commander, Altset. He sighed and stood up. His squad followed suit, coming up one by one to a total of six. They all wore the same midnight blue uniform which clung tightly over their carapace armour, black stripes criss crossed the legs and chest, leaving the arms a dark blue hue, each wearing a rebreather with a red vision slit and holding hellguns. Instead of using a compact backpack for ammo feeds, they each carried a fair amount of the stronger Fury pattern power cells.

Judging by the way they moved, Beta was in bad shape. He gestured and they moved out. The odd Tau city they were in was the most disturbing aspect of the whole situation. Instead of the usual square blocky Imperial constructions Mikael was used to, the surrounding buildings were round and smooth. He couldn't even tell if they were homes or businesses. Some had odd symbols on them, but none of them had any obvious sign of either.

He looked around at his squad and could tell Beta was having trouble concentrating. Their morale was getting lower and lower with every passing day but it didn't surprise him they had lasted this long with their heads straight. His squad was one of the best trained and armed the 82nd Selvian Skyborne had to offer, with a tally of over five hundred confirmed kills and over twenty seven completed assignments. They were even mentioned in the Great Hall back at the Selvian Academy where they had trained. Their squad, along with their individual names, was written in one of the many honor scrolls hanging from the The Great Bastion.

The center of the Academy, it was both a temple and a place of honor for the Selvians. A great statue of The Emperor himself stood upon a raised dais. His outstretched hand holding a long sword from which the honor scrolls hung. Mikael remembered the day he had been granted his promotion to Sky Captain and had watched as his squad was added to the scrolls. He remembered his feeling of both pride and anxiety. He had been granted an ornate saber that had belonged to a great Selvian captain in the past as both a badge of office and a tool for bringing death to the enemies of the Imperium. His hand moved to the hilt from where it now hung, his fingers closing around the handle. For a second he thought it was from the power of his memories but then his instinct hit him.

_I'm being watched_

He froze, his squad instantly knew something was wrong and brought up their hellguns to a combat position. Mikael scanned the buildings around him with a wary eye and spotted something odd, a sort of reflection on top of the tallest one. It was like staring through a misty glass. There was a moments pause then the reflection opened fire. Mikael instantly ducked for cover and his squad did likewise.

"Take cover! They're using their facking infiltration, keep your eyes keen and watch your ammo"

he yelled. His squad dived for whatever cover they could find. The plasma bolts seared the air as they struck a little too close for comfort. Mikael risked a glance over the statue he'd ducked behind only to be pushed back down by inhumanely accurate fire. He switched his hellgun to single shot and leaned over again, firing at the general direction of the enemy. The return fire was fierce, forcing him down again.

"Captain, we need to move before the bastards flank us" Palas came up behind him, his second in command breathing hard, "If we stay here any longer, they'll get around and our mission will be scrubbed."

"Facking hell, Fel!" The Skyborne scout Fel was the squads greatest marksman. He was also the oldest of them all. A small man, able to fit in spaces most commanders wouldn't believe possible. He acknowledged,

"Yes, Captain?" his voice was was soft, a sign of his old age. He was wearing an older version of the Skyborne armor from previous assignments. The only constant that had remained throughout the changes was a small metallic rose he wore on his chest, next to his badge.

"I need some covering fire, keep them down for a minute or two. Free fire" Mikael said. The scout nodded and placed a scope on his hellgun, which was also an older model. He murmured the Marksmen's Litany and put his eye to the scope. One shot, two, three and the enemy fire slowed. Mikael jumped from cover and sprinted to the tall building the Tau were using. He armed a baby tick and placed it on what he guessed was a weak spot. He timed it and ran back to cover. The rest of Beta had spread out and were adding the power of their own guns to Fel's.

The tick exploded, gauging a huge tear in the building and bringing it down. Mikael risked a glance and saw the previously stealthed Tau moving through the site. He could make out at least four, and the bottom part of a fifth buried under fallen debris. Seizing the moment, Beta took aim and fired single shots at the retreating Tau. Two more went down. The last pair disappeared into thin air before Beta could do anything about it.

Mikael sighed. He turned and signaled for Beta to form up. His squad moved, Palas speaking first

"Sir, I suggest we get the fack out of here. Auspex readings report enemy contacts moving in from the South." Mikael nodded,

"How many?" he asked, hoping for a low number.

"Too many sir, we'd be overrun with an entire regiment" Palas said. Mikael swore, this situation was just getting worse and worse.

"Alright, we move out. Spread formation and keep your eyes open." They nodded and he turned to lead the way. The fallen debris from the blast had blocked half the street they were moving through. Mikael walked by the dead Tau, pausing for a moment to stare at it. It was slightly smaller than he was, wearing what looked like a full body flak vest painted black with stripes of white and red. Other than the strange armor and weapons, the Tau wasn't so different from Mikael. He could probably pass off as a human.

"You alright captain?" Mikael snapped out of his thoughts and turned to the voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine Ami." He said. She nodded and kept moving, her perfectly curved hips swinging with every step. Ami, short for Amelia, was the squad's demo specialist. Although not built like one, she could probably take on an Ork warboss with nothing but her knife and succeed. Another Beta was moving with Ami. Wino, the vixen. Wino was one of the scariest women Mikael had ever known, and he was not an easy man to scare. With features reminiscent of Selvias' native hunters, the Fenix, she was generally thought of as someone to make nice with. It was often the company joke to spread rumors to the FNG's that Wino was in fact single and looking for a mate. Her body wasn't to die for, but her attitude coupled with her wit was somewhat appealing and some even found it out right attractive. The short black hair and fiery red eyes, she had a face to match her reputation as a tough fighter.

As the squad moved through the ruins of the Tau city, Mikael thought of the recent days and how strong the Tau actually were. The invasion had come to a dead halt and the units that had dropped ahead of the main force had found themselves stranded with no word of reinforcements or resupply. The Tau had hidden their main force in secret bunkers deep under the city's which the Imperialist forces had thought to be hiding holes where the civilian populace was taking shelter but they were dead wrong.

As the first exploratory ships landed, they were met by a Tau envoy. The xenos had demanded the Imperials leave their planet or suffer the consequences. They had offered them two days to retreat all orbiting ships and a third to depart from the system. The Imperials had answered in typical Army fashion, drawing lasgun and boltgun that were brought upon the unsuspecting Tau.

It was the biggest mistake they could've done. Before the first Tau fell, advanced battle suits had flown out of their cover and annihilated the attackers. Their armor was no match for the high tech plasma weapons of the Tau. Dozens were slaughtered in the first seconds, a tally that was doubled as they fell back to their ships. The few that survived thought themselves safe but that was nothing but a fool's hope. Heavy Tau armor with broadside weaponry riddle the vessel's underside and they were brought down.

War was declared.


	2. Chapter 2

Part II

True night seemed to be coming now. Mikael could tell from the way the planet seemed to just get quieter.

Beta had moved out of the Tau city and were now walking along a dirt path flanked by a dense forest to one side and a vast lake to another. They had been lucky since their last firefight with the Tau and had managed to avoid two patrols thanks to Fel's master senses. He had been key in Beta's survival.

As they drew to yet another fork, Mikael held his hand up. The squad came to a halt, he signalled to Fel,

"What do you think, left or right?" He asked, indicating the two roads. The scout stood for a moment, he took a deep breath and let it out, as if clearing out his senses.

"In all honesty sir, neither. Both are too far along to make much headway into and it's better to make camp and rest early so we can get a head start at dawn." He said. Mikael thought this over for a second,

"Alright. Find us a suitable spot. Lead the way." Fel nodded and moved into the thick underbrush. Mikael signaled and the rest of Beta followed suit. He would resign his leadership role for the moment, handing it to Fel who Mikael knew was clearly in his area of expertise. Though Mikael was a born leader, having been brought up by a family who had a deep military tradition back on Selvia, Fel was a born warrior. Nobody knew what he had been back on their homeworld but Mikael always figured he was part of the Eulatii. The highly secretive cult that bred the best warriors on the entire planet. Few in number and big on secrecy, only the highest nobility even knew of their knowledge. Mikael himself had only heard stories from his father who had once served with a Eulatii during his time with the Selvian PDF.

The story went that when the Great Crusade had found Selvia in the Mordant Zone, there had been no sign of civilization. The only humans even found had been nomad tribes of warriors that called themselves the Eulatii. They were small men by Army standards. Most had short cut hair and elongated ears that seemed to twitch with life of their own. They carried primitive tools along with wooden Yari's as they called them. The Yari's shaft measured almost six feet in length and had a detachable metal tip called a Faya which added another foot or so. Along with this, they carried a small dagger hidden in leg straps with the women carrying a longer version called a Sief. Their armour was like the ancient Dragon's scales, with separate plates covering the arms, chest, and the legs. Under this they wore a thin but extremely resistant tabard made up of tightly woven cloths.

The planet was brought into compliance without firing a single shot. As the decades passed, settlers took over. Soon cities started sprouting up and natural resources were exploited. Little by little, the Eulatii's way of life was pushed aside. Rich men had beautiful native women taken to serve in their mansions and the Eulatii's warrior caste slowly dwindled as their territory grew smaller and smaller. It seemed the end was in sight for the noble warriors.

But then came the Horus Heresy. The infamous civil war that broke the Imperium in half. During the Heresy, the planetary governor and the ruling caste turned to the Dark Powers. Civil war reigned between loyalist and traitor forces. The few Imperial forces left behind remained loyal but the traitors had a small army of their own. Fighting for their lives, the loyalists retreat to the mountains of Selvia. There they fought a war of attrition using guerilla tactics. The traitors soon turned to fire as a means of rooting out the loyalists. As the war destroyed their planet and the beautiful forests where they had lived for so long, the Eulatii were enraged.

The few warriors that were left banded together and marched to High Ridge where the last of the loyalists were holding out in the deep valley. They were close to breaking and it was clear that the battle was nothing but a last act of defiance. As the traitors attacked, they were led by the governor himself. The Eulatii knew it was their only chance to attack, having been pushed out and oppressed for so long, their rage was like that of the Fenix. They stormed the rear of the massive army and brought their fury down upon their enemy. Rallied by their newfound allies, the men holding out redoubled their efforts and the enemy was routed. As the last survivors were annihilated, peace and order was restored. But as the newly installed governor searched the land for sight of the Eulatii, they were nowhere to be found. the warriors had disappeared, believing their work to be done. Having left nothing but a Yari with the words, "We make war that we may live in peace."

A voice brought Mikael back to the present,

"Are you sure you're alright sir?" Ami was saying. She looked sincerely worried that Mikael might actually be going crazy. He paused, she looked rather pleasant from an angle. Or at least more than usual, her brown eyes matching her pony tail'd hair. She laid her hand on his cheek, as if checking for a fever. It was soft and he felt his face go red. She smiled sweetly. He knew the real reason but life in the 82nd didn't allow it, and he was purely professional. Though she never seemed to give up hope.

"I'll be fine Ami" he said and turned to follow Corrick, the team's communications expert. He could hear Ami sigh behind him. He ignored it, he was a Sky Captain, he had no time for romance. Instead choosing to concentrate on what he was gonna do to get the team out of the hellhole they'd gotten stuck in. His team had been in tough spots before like on Ko-Ria where they had been attacked by mobs of mutated PDF or by the Orks during their raid on Warboss' MadDawk's Waaagh. But they always held and fought on.

He looked for this strength now as the darkness set in. As he walked deeper into the forest, he came into a small clearing. It looked to him like something had just walked into the middle of nowhere and hacked at all the nearby trees. Fallen logs formed a semi perimeter, with only one or two still standing. Fel stood from he had been busy wiping some brown filth from his combat knife and came over to Mikael,

"Best spot in the whole damn lot sir, got a perfect position up in", he motioned with his hand to a tall slender tree , "that tree. Very fast to get back down in case of emergency. And I got good enough cover." Mikael saw how there were almost no branches low enough for Fel to reach but also noticed the holes that had been clearly made by a standard Selvian combat knife. He recognized what Fel had been busy wiping off his.

"Good job, take first watch. I'll take second. Be up early and get me some recon of the surrounding area." Fel nodded and went back to scaling the massive tree. It was amazing to Mikael how he moved, almost like a spider crawling on its web. He heard someone curse and turned to see Wino busy chewing on a B.A.R or Bastardized Army Rations. Which was basically the typical Army rations but instead of tasting terrible, they were just tasteless.

Palas was sitting on a log, probably praying to the Emperor as he always did. Mikael wondered what he would do without his second. Although he was the captain, Palas was the spiritual leader. Devout, quiet, stern. He was perhaps too rigid and therefore not fit for command but he was a good man none the less. Then there was Corrick, perhaps the exact opposite. Loud, obnoxious and a troublemaker. He and Ami shared the same unhealthy enthusiasm about big explosions which led to their natural friendship. He was built perfectly for the Skyborne. Standing at 5'11 he was slim with hard muscle, hair cut short and dyed red coupled with his multiple tattoos. Notably the long snake that curved around his neck and the Fenix on his left shoulder.

Mikael himself sported the numbers 82 and the letter B on his right shoulder and the initials M.A. on his left. Although not many knew about the left one, most having passed away now, there was one or two who still knew. The darkness was getting closer, and he knew it would be his shift soon. He laid his hellgun on his pack and rested his head next to the barrel. Dangerous some would say, but he was a Sky Captain, and danger was his order of business.


	3. Chapter 3

Mikael felt a hand on his shoulder and opened his eyes. Fel was standing over him, gun in hand.

"You're up sir, nothing so far, only notable change is the temperature. It's dropping fast." Mikael took this with a nod. The sky hadn't changed much, Mikael noted, although it was almost dawn, it was still just as dark and cold.

"Alright Fel, take a rest. Be up in a few to recon before we move." Mikael stood, shaking his weariness.

"I'll take care of it sir, can't sleep much in this place anyways." Fel said as he lay on Mikael's already warmed up spot.

Mikael eyed the slender tree with unease and began to climb. He hooked one arm over the nearest branch and pulled himself up, high enough to get a decent view of the surrounding area. Overhead, the stars were slowly disappearing as dawn came and he could imagine himself back on Selvia. Back home. The thought of home warmed his heart and he smiled, reminiscing of a life gone past.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" whispered a voice into his ear. He flinched visibly, eyeing Ami as she pulled herself up to the branch. "Sorry sir, didn't mean to startle you." she said with a broad grin, "Thought you heard me coming up." Mikael merely nodded.

"Yeah, I was distracted." He stated simply. She sat on the branch next to him.

"Distracted? About what?" She asked. Mikael shrugged,

"Nothing in particular. Just things." He said. She nodded sagely.

"Things huh? Sounds interesting." He looked at her,

"Shouldn't you be sleeping Ami?" He asked. It was her turn to shrug this time.

"I slept, had an oddball dream, couldn't close my eyes again." She said, "Besides, thought you could use the company." She smiled.

"Yeah." He said, "Company." He sighed and looked at the sky again, memories of home coming unbidden.

"Don't you miss home Ami?" He asked absently. Ami paused before answering, Mikael looked at her and asked again, "Do you?"She looked at him,

"Yeah, sometimes I do. The Academy, the towns, the people." She lowered her head, "I miss it all, but sometimes you just can't dwell on it ya'know? We're here and we can't ever go back to that. We're Skyborne, best of the best, tough as nails soldiers. But we're just that, soldiers." Mikael said nothing, merely nodded.

"Wrong. We're not just soldiers, we're Skyborne." He said, "82nd Selvian." He added. Pride in his voice.

"And us, Mikael?" Ami asked, leaning in closer. Mikael felt her hand brush against his, he picked up the sweet scent of Resilin, a popular Selvian wildflower, so used to the smells of death and war, the sweet scent stood out. It was intoxicating.

"Us?" He asked, glancing at her. "What us...?-Oh Fack!" He yelled as a plasma bolt swerved out of nowhere and hit the tree, cutting a hole right through the bark. Mikael grabbed Ami, pulling her down with him. He landed hard on his side, with Ami across his chest. He could hear the distinctive sound of Tau weaponry and rushed to his feet.

"Beta! Up and about, we got hostiles!" He yelled as he readied his hellgun. Ami half crawled, half ran to her equipment, rushing from cover to cover to avoid the worst of the fire. She reached her hellgun and snapped her helmet on, the Mark IV "Airbreather" was standard for Selvian Skyborne, offering not only the typical rebreather but night vision and infrared, plus the additional head coverage.

"Fack! Where did they come from?!." Corrick yelled out. Wino was crouching next to him, taking cover behind a fallen log.

"You know, for the tech guy, you're not very resourceful." she shouted back, leaning over to let loose a few potshots. Corrick laughed as he leaned over to support her with his own hellgun.

"You know Wino, sometimes I wonder if you're really of the female species. Anyone ever confuse you for a man?" He retorted.

"No, how 'bout you?" She sneered at him, leaned over and resumed firing. Corrick cracked a smile and shook his head, grinning ear to ear. He leaned over again, taking single shots.

"Cut the small talk you two, we got Tau to fry" Palas yelled from across the clearing, where he was crouching next to Fel, covering the scout as he read the auspex.

"Captain!" Fel yelled, pointing to the west, "Ten to fifteen, that way. A single vehicle. Probably a scouting party." Mikael looked in the direction and it seemed that was correct with the direction the blast had come from.

"Acknowledged, Wino, Corrick, flank hard left." They moved out, guns pointing due west. Mikael turned to Ami who had returned to the tree and was busy trying to find an enemy to shoot.

"Ami!" He tapped her shoulder.

"What?"

"Get a baby tick and follow me, we're taking out that vehicle before they can get the hell out of here." He said. She nodded and took out the small explosive from her pack, arming it in case there was no time later.

"Fel, Palas, hold here and provide covering fire." Mikael yelled at the pair. They acknowledged and he moved towards the treeline, hellgun at the fore.

"Engaged!" Came the voice of Corrick over the squad's comms. "There's a few of the bastards here, we can take them but the rest of them might flank. Advise" his voice was drowned out by the noise of gunfire.

"Hold Corrick, we're taking their transport. Be there to relieve you as soon as possible." Mikael replied. A curt message came back but was lost in the din of gunfire. Mikael moved at double speed due west. If his hunch was right, their would be an officer back at their transport that he could get some intelligence from. Suddenly another riot of gunfire erupted. In the direction of the clearing.

"Enemy! No count but there's a lot of them, that's for sure. They're keeping our heads down but we'll do fine as long as they don't flank." Palas said over the comms. Mikael cursed colorfully. Ami frowned at him,

"What?" She asked as they continued to move west.

"This isn't good, they're both very vulnerable to a flank. We better move fast or else.." He didn't finish but Ami got the point. They redoubled their efforts.

"Sir, confirmed that they're scouts. I've seen their type before, Pathfinders sir." Fel's voice came over the comms. Mikael acknowledged without stopping.

"Scouting for what Fel?" He asked.

"I don't know sir, maybe they're hunting for any survivors" The scout said.

"Roger, Mikael, over and out." He said.

"Gue'la!" Yelled a voice. Mikael stopped dead in his tracks and saw a previously hidden Tau. He brought his hellgun up but was too slow. A burst of blue bolts shot at him, he saw them as clearly as day. Three of them, all coming towards him. He saw a rising Fenix, the face of his father and then..

"Captain!" Ami yelled, throwing herself on him. She hit him hard, his eyes blinded by her armor. The blue bolts flew by where his head had just been a second ago. He blinked, his sight fuzzy. Ami brought her hellgun up and shot the tau twice.

"Come on!" She yelled, helping him up. He shook the dizziness away and stood up, leaning on Ami to balance himself.

"I think there's something up ahead, I can see a vague outline of a what looks like a skimmer. And a few Tau around it." She said, her helmet emitting tiny clicks as it switched between different vision modes.

"Yeah.." He mumbled. He shook his head, clearing up his sight. He turned west and start moving again, Ami close behind. They kept their hellguns in combat position this time and moved forward at a slower pace. It took them a while, as they got closer Mikael could make out voices. They were speaking clearly but they might as well have been speaking Ork for all he knew. The edge of the clearing came up, he motioned to Ami and they hid behind a small mound of dirt. He could make out the skimmer vehicle. It was a Devilfish class, with a frontal cannon flanked by two gun drones and a single spotter in the hatch. Another two Tau were behind it, one which looked like an officer.

"Alright, you go right and wait for my signal. I'll go left and take the rear. When you get my signal, rush the the hatch and kill anything inside." He whispered. She nodded, glancing at the baby tick. She looked back up to Mikael and he shook his head, mouthing "no". She nodded and disarmed it, placing it back in her pack. Mikael slid down, crawling around the clearing towards the rear end of the skimmer. He switched his gun to full auto and murmured a quick prayer to the Emperor. He gripped his gun in one hand and the hilt of his saber in the other.

"For Selvia!" He yelled, rushing out. The two Tau turned and stared at the captain, too shocked to move for just a second. It was all Mikael needed. He shot the first with a burst from his hellgun before letting it drop at his side. The Tau who he'd assumed to be the officer drew what looked like a small knife but soon extended to the length of a staff. He brought it up to block as Mikael swung his saber downwards. There was a moment of tension as the two fighters put all their strength into breaking the other. Mikael keyed his comms twice, emitting two buzzes of static on Ami's. She jumped up and ran at the skimmer. The spotter had ducked as the fight had started and she knew whatever he was doing in there wasn't good.

"Captain!" She yelled, watching Mikael break from the deadlock and block a lunge from the Tau.

"Get the skimmer! I got this!" He yelled, dancing around the strikes from the officer's staff. She jumped onto the closest drone, making her way to the hatch up the skimmer's curved flank. She readied a bang, a grenade that blinded the eyes with a burst of light, and her hellgun. She kicked the hatch open and let the bang drop, turning away to make sure she wasn't blinded. A sharp bang ensured it lived to it's name and Ami was in, greeted by a blind Tau. He was stumbling around , rubbing his eyes and speaking in a tongue she didn't care to understand. She slammed the butt of her rifle on his head, knocking him out. She quickly bound him and ran outside where Mikael was still fighting the Tau. She made to help him but Mikael shook his head. She backed off.

"Get to Corrick and Wino! Regroup the squad and meet back here!" He yelled at her. She acknowledged and moved off to flank the Tau.

"Foolish Gue'la, you will die just like the rest of your ignorant race" The Tau said, swinging his staff in a horizontal sweep.

"Not today xeno, you're facing the Emperor's own. Selvian Skyborne" Mikael said, parrying another strike from the staff.

"The Emperor? Stupid Gue'la. Your Emperor is dead" He spit back. Mikael snarled with anger, blocking the vertical sweep with the flat of his blade. He deflected it to the side and spun around, swinging in a deadly arc. The Tau stepped back, on the defense. Mikael followed up with a kick to the Tau's left leg, cracking bone. The xeno groaned, falling to his knee. He tried to bring up the staff to attack but Mikael kicked his hand, fracturing his fingers.

"You're dead Tau" He said. The xeno glared at Mikael.

"So be it, Gue'la". Mikael scoffed, the arrogant attitude of the Tau disgusted him. He flipped his saber, grabbing the blade and hitting the Tau with the hilt, knocking him unconscious.

"Team, report in." He said over the comms.

"Fel here, Palas is hit but he'll be fine." Came the voice of the scout.

"Sir, Wino and I are pinned. The Tau reinforced, there's too many of them." Corrick said. Mikael cursed.

"That's probably why they let up on us here captain." Fel said. Mikael looked at the skimmer.

"Ami, where are you?" He asked. There was no reply. His heart sank. "Has anybody received word from Ami?"

"Negative." replied Corrick.

"Nor here." added Fel.

"Corrick, I'm heading over now. Hold on damnit, we can't lose anyone." He oriented himself to Corrick's position where the firing was easily the fiercest. Replacing his saber in its hilt, he ran towards his beleaguered squad.


End file.
